Does anyone know of any books/articles out there that measure or explain interspecies variation in male parental involvement? I'm particularly interested in mammals, but other critters are of interest, too.
FWIW, my impression is that, relative to most mammals and even other primates, human fathers are pretty engaged, but I'd like to learn more.
Is this request too dorky for DBR? Nah.
I believe Robert Wright's The Moral Animal (1994) touched on this. I'm sure much has been discovered/analyzed since then, but I only just read it a few months ago. Robert Sapolsky's stuff also comes to mind.
Anyway, when it comes to animal behavior (ethology?), we seem to know far more about birds than any other class of vertebrates. Birds are diurnal and easily observed, and there are millions of amateurs watching birds.
Anyway, there are books on the subject easily Googled.
Wright's book was great and definitely on point. I read Sapolsky's "Behave" recently and do not recall any discussion of this issue. I thought that Frans de Waal's (RIP!) book "Different" was going to touch on this issue...but it didn't, which I thought was very odd, though I will note that de Waal had no children
FWIW, I just googled "interspecies variation in male parental involvement" and the number one hit is this thread.